1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to multidimensional switch networks, and more particularly pertains to multidimensional message-passing switch data networks as are used by a distributed-memory parallel computer, as applied for example to computations in the field of life sciences.
The multidimensional switch network also has utility outside a multi-node parallel computer, and for example could serve as a many-ported router for Ethernet or other general-purpose networking.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
A distributed-memory parallel computing system usually consists of a number of computing nodes, plus a message-passing data network that connects the computing nodes together. Two types of message-passing data networks are most commonly in use in the art:
(1) A multistage fat tree switch network, where each computing node connects to a port of the data switch. Within the switch network, different stages are cross-connected in a fat tree fashion. The cross-section network bandwidth is usually maintained across stages. This network offers a flat view for the computing nodes. Each node has equal distance and therefore communication bandwidth to any other node. However, as the number of the computing nodes grows, the switch network itself becomes increasingly complex and costly, limiting the overall scalability of the total system. Most of the largest parallel super-computing systems in existence today use this type of network, and seldom exceed a few thousand computing nodes.
(2) A multidimensional torus or mesh network where each node only directly connects to a few neighboring nodes. Network data traffic are routed through the nodes on the way to their destination. These kind of networks are highly scalable, and they maintain nearest neighbor network bandwidth through different machine sizes. However, network bandwidth reduces inversely as the number of average network hops a message has to travel, and becomes the limiting factor when application performance depends on all-to-all type communications.